


the words that linger deep inside (i love you)

by jisxngie, mihigh3725



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: #minhoprotectionsquad, Anxiety Attacks, Bullying, Fluff, Gold diggers, Light Angst, M/M, Minor Violence, Non-Graphic Violence, Slow Burn, Social Anxiety, a minsung high school au, and my friend decided to help me !!, chris and changbin are the protective parents™ in this fic too, hey yall im baCK, i mean who doesnt jsjskdns, in the sense that they want minhos money, so here you have it, so this happened bc of a thing i thought of in my gc, stray kids? sorry i only know the, they love minho a lot, theyre not hookers lmAO
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-29
Updated: 2018-03-22
Packaged: 2019-02-23 12:41:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13190313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jisxngie/pseuds/jisxngie, https://archiveofourown.org/users/mihigh3725/pseuds/mihigh3725
Summary: Being born into a higher class family has its ups and downs. Lee Minho has to experience all of them.Fortunately for him, a certain Han Jisung is one of those 'up's.





	1. Chapter 1

“Be careful at school sweetie.”

Minho nods and whispers a ‘yes mother’ as he picks up his bag from the floor in front of his seat. He swings his bag over his shoulders and firmly shuts the car door.

There are students everywhere; they’re all either running around, sitting and talking, or they’re on their phones. Despite the whistling of the wind and the students chatting, Minho could hear the whispers of a few students around him.

_“Hey, isn’t that the kid with the filthy rich parents?”_

_“Yeah, did you see the car he got dropped off in? Man, my parents would die for a car like that.”_

_“Bet you he doesn’t even do his assignments himself, he’s so well off he could just pay a genius to do it for him.”_

Pulling his phone and earphones out of his pocket, he hurriedly makes his way to the main courtyard. He hates hearing any of what they’re saying, even if knows he’ll have to when he enters class.

It’s the exact same every day. People stare and rumours spread. Sometimes, Minho wished he hadn’t begged his parents to let him attend a public high school.

“It’s only for the experience,” he mumbles to himself, blaring the music in his earphones to block out the rowdy students around him.

—

The bell rang. Finally! Lunch was Minho’s only savior in this godforsaken place. He often ate in the cafeteria with Chan or Changbin before heading off to the library. He had study hall afterwards so it was fine and it’s not like the teachers particularly cared whether he was in lesson or not. 

“Hey, what’s up?” Minho gives up poking at his food and looks up. It’s Chan!

“‘Sup Channie. Where’s Binnie?”

“He texted me earlier, he got into detention, that punk.”

Minho smiles but doesn’t say anything as the older sits down across from him.

“Yo, you remember that song we were working on?” Both he and Chan had worked hard for that song and it had been fun too! He had even gotten a chance to write the lyrics!

“Yeah! What about it?”

“I did a pre-recording! Wanna listen?” Chan has a goofy smile on his face.

“Definitely!” Chan slips a pair of headphones over Minho’s ears.

_I don’t know another road.  
For a long time, I have been running towards only one hopeful place- wherever I’m going_

...This is a masterpiece. He knows that Chan can produce music, it’s always been a dream of Chan’s to become a composer,but damn this was good. He still can’t believe that Chan had actually used his lyrics!

“And… Is that Changbin rapping I hear?” Minho is shook. He didn’t know that Changbin, or Chan for that matter, could rap.

“Yup! We both recorded this.”  
“Yah! You didn’t tell me?” Minho throws a light punch against Chan’s shoulder.

“Sorry, I’m sorry. I thought you’d like a surprise.” Chan has the widest smile on his face. How could Minho ever be mad at this dork?

Minho remembers how they met like it was yesterday.

 

_Minho sits quietly under the shade of the big oak tree in the park, flipping the pages of his new book. Reading has always been fun for him; each book gives him new ideas and new wonders._

_‘I wanna be an author when I grow up!’ he’s always said that to his parents whenever he’s had the chance. ‘That’s wonderful sweetie but you’ll need to take over the family business when you’re old enough’ is what his parents would always say. He remembers pouting at them everytime._

_The music playing through his earphones doesn’t block out the world around him. He can still hear the kids playing on all of the equipment but it’s muffled so much it doesn’t even affect him. Every time he glances up at them, he sees a different kid staring at him each time, as if they wanted to invite him to play._

_He would have declined quietly anyway. His parents have never liked it when he talked to strangers by himself._

_He picks up the phone next to him in his small hands, changing his music to something softer, something that would let him listen to all of the kids playing. It was...nice to hear. It was nice to hear all of the kids having fun… even if he couldn’t._

_He casts a quick glance up to see a boy jogging towards him, midnight hair blowing in the wind as he does so._

_“H-hiya! What’s your name?” Minho pulls out one of his earphones and looks at the boy. There’s another boy behind him too, he looks shy._

_“Um… Mother told me not to talk to strangers…”_

_The boy crouches down at looks at him with gentle eyes, “Well, I’m Chan! And that’s Changbin, he’s just a bit quiet. You know our names, so we’re not strangers now! What’s your name?”_

_“Chan…” Minho slips his bookmark between the pristine white pages of his book and watches carefully as Changbin, the boy behind Chan, crouches next to him. “...I’m Lee Minho.”  
“Huh? What was that?” Changbin speaks up; his voice is so soft and gentle._

_“Minho! My name is Minho.”_

_“Really? That’s such a cool name,” Chan sits down properly and crosses his legs, glancing at the phone in his hands. “_ And _you have a phone? Wow, you’re so lucky!”_

_Minho couldn’t help but smile at the both of them; No one’s ever taken the time to talk to him properly before._


	2. Chapter 2

It was finally time for Minho to work on his novel. He always has good grades anyway. Who cares if one study hall went to his hobby? That’s right, writing is only a hobby of his. He continues to type away on his laptop.

“Hey, can I sit here?”

Minho looks up from his document, cocking his head and furrowing his brows at the boy standing on the opposite side of the table. Isn't there anywhere else for this dude to sit? The guy’s wearing a black blazer that has “junior captain” embroidered in small print under the school emblem. Huh, conceited much?

“Oh hey, aren’t you the rich kid in senior?”

Well, that’s kinda rude…

Minho can’t even stop the sigh that leaves his mouth. Yet another person who only knows about him because of his parents’ wealth. He quickly grabs his bag from his feet and stands, rushing out of the library as quick as possible.  
He hears the dude yelling out after him, a quick “h-hey!”, but he makes the decision to ignore it.

—

When Minho finally gets home, there’s the usual ‘welcome home, sir’ from the family maid before he dashes up the staircase and down the hall to his bedroom. Slamming the door behind him, he drops his bag at the foot of his bed and collapses onto the sheets.

Minho muffles a groan into his bed before he sits up and reaches for his bag. Maybe if he finishes the next chapter of his story, he’ll feel a bit better.

“...Shit,” he curses, unzipping his bag all the way and pulling out all of his books. Did he really…?

“Where the hell is my laptop?” The rustling of his bag is the only sound in the room and he’s sure something in his pen case has snapped from how violently he’s pulled it out of his bag. “Did I leave it in the library?”

_“H-Hey! You forgot your—!”_

“Crap. I _did_ leave it in the library!” he groans to himself, placing his bag on the bed next to him and getting up to stretch. He really should have listened to that guy, but he had left the library so quick he couldn’t. He silently curses himself for having such a short temper.

He slowly makes his way to the kitchen downstairs, pulling off his blazer on the way out of his room.

“Minho? Sweetie, how was school?”

Minho spins on his heels, smiling gently at his mother as she carefully comes down the stairs. “Um,” Minho begins, “i-it was good! Channie finished the pre-recording for his song.”

“Oh! The one that you wrote lyrics for?”

“Yeah,” Minho smiles as he pulls out a chair for his mother at their dining table, “he actually used my lyrics.”

“That’s good. You’ve always had an affinity for writing.”

Minho sits down across from her and places down his glass of water. His mother deals with business a lot, and so does his dad. Unfortunately, he is doomed to inherit the family business. At the very least, his passion for writing is acknowledged.

Should he bring up his lost laptop? He knows that they’ll just buy him a new one and tell him to be more careful. That isn’t the point! The laptop isn’t important, what’s more important is what’s _on_ the laptop. What should he do?

“Minho, I think you forgot but you have therapy later. I’ve told Mr. Kim to drive you there.”

Ah, that. Honestly, he needs it right now. He wants to get this off his chest. Besides, Dr. Lee may have a solution.

—

_“Well, one way to overcome your anxiety is to face it head on. Besides, you are only asking him for your laptop and you don’t have to talk to him ever again. Maybe, you could go with Chan too! If anything does happen, you have Chan and you can do your classic escape.”_

That’s what Dr. Lee had said earlier. God, Minho does like her but what did she mean by his ‘classic escape’? Sure, he ran away from people a lot but that wasn’t- ah, he was getting off track.

He’s currently stalking the school website for _his_ mysterious junior school captain. 

“Han Jisung.” Well, that’s a… common name. Minho sighs, rubbing his tired eyes from under his thinly rimmed glasses.

Maybe he could call Changbin and ask if he knows the captains? Changbin probably knows the Juniors, right…?

Nope, it turns out Changbin doesn’t know ‘Han Jisung,’ and both Chan _and_ Changbin’s schedules are full, so he’s going to have to approach Jisung alone. Life sucks.

 

Some more stalking reveals Jisung’s schedule so that if any students needed to see him they’d know where to find him. Minho could approach Jisung during his study hall which would be Jisung’s lunch.

—

Just enter the cafeteria _full of people who don’t like you_. He tries to block out his anxiety. He just has to ask politely for his laptop - _Jisung and his friends will think you're a creep_ \- and if he does have it, take it back and never talk to Jisung again. Simple enough.

Minho spots Jisung _amidst all the people who have tried to use him_. He just wants his laptop back. Just get the laptop. Jisung and his group of friends laugh. _He took your laptop so he could ask for reward money_ something in his mind whispers. He sees Jisung look up.

Red signals go off in his mind. _NO!_

Minho does a quick 180 and makes his ‘classic escape’, as Dr. Lee had put it. He takes deep breaths and tries to calm himself down. Minho makes up his mind to forget about the laptop. For now, anyways.

Maybe going to the dance studio would help him cool off? It might be empty. He hurriedly heads to the arts block staffroom to ask one of the dance teachers for permission. It’s a yes.

Minho gently opens the door to one of the dance rooms, dropping his bag in the far corner near the speaker set up. He puts on some music as he stretches before he gets into dancing properly. Minho was actually a former backup dancer for BTS. 

He had become good at dancing due to the countless dance lessons he had taken. His parents had signed him up for ballroom dancing and, although he had found it interesting, he later signed up for lessons on hip-hop. Long story short, his dance team was later hired to be their backup dancers. 

However, after the tour, he quit the team. 

Too many sasaengs had popped up around his neighbourhood and he couldn’t deal with that. It had also led to his anxiety after a few unpleasant memories.

Dancing is relieving, there were no distrac-

_BAM!_ The door slams open and Minho startles so much he stumbles over his own two feet.

“Oh, hey!”

A kid with freckles and blonde hair had opened the door. Hmm, the freckles make him look cute. Minho decides to leave, he doesn’t like dancing in front of other people. He just can’t do it — not anymore.

“Since we both want to use the dance studio, the ruLESARETHATWEMUSTHAVEADANCEBATTLE!”

“E-Eh?!”


	3. Chapter 3

Minho is done. It doesn’t come as a surprise that Freckled Cutie had given up against him. He hadn’t been BTS’s backup dancer for nothing. He quickly gathers up his things, unplugs his phone from the speaker cord and rushes out the door before Freckled Cutie can say any more than 5 words to him.

“Hey, you should join m—”

Minho ignores the Freckled Cutie. _Escape._

—

Minho shouldn’t have ignored the Freckled Cutie. 

Freckled Cutie has a name. Felix Lee. He’s 15 and he’s a foreign transfer student from Australia. He likes popcorn and raw cookie dough. His favourite drink is Coca Cola, and he learnt how to swim at the age of 10. Felix’s favourite colour is yellow like the sun and his favourite food is pizza. His favourite cartoon is Spongebob.

The only reason Minho knows all this is because Felix has been following him around everywhere and yapping his ear off. For the past three days, he’s been trying to persuade Minho into joining his dance team outside of school. If it will make Felix shut up, Minho will say yes.

“I’ll join your dance team so please-“

“Really?! Oh my god, thank you! Thank you!”

Minho tunes Felix out and tries to hide his smile. The kid has grown on him, even if it's only been three days. Maybe following people around and yapping in their ear can make you friends?

Minho doesn’t want to test that theory out.

—

Minho opens his messaging app and taps on his group chat with Chan and Changbin. The moonlight slivers in through slightly open curtains, illuminating the room enough for Minho’s eyes to not hurt as he begins typing.

__**[22:36] Minho**  
guys,,  
…i made a friend! 

__**[22:37] Channie**  
i'm sorry what  
what's his name?? 

_**[22:37] Minho**  
his name is felix and he really seems like a good person_

_**[22:38] Binnie**  
oh :0 but r u sure about that_

__**[22:39] Minho**  
yeah  
he's really loud and he pestered me into joining the dance crew he's on  
so i said yes and he got really happy  
either way i'm going to sleep, it's been a long day 

_**[22:39] Binnie**  
i dont trust felix tho :< sleep well_

_**[22:40] Channie**  
be happy that Minnie made some friends lmao_

_**[22:40] Minho**  
heyyyy i like felix_

_**[22:40] Binnie**  
… you mean A friend ;)_

__**[22:41] Minho**  
i hate all of you  
im sleepin for realsies 

_**[22:41] Channie**  
aight sleep well Minnie_

__**[22:41] Binnie**  
“realsies” pFt Xp  
good night lmao 

Minho yawns, switching off his phone and putting it on charge. He slips his glasses off of his face and carefully places them on his bedside table with his phone before turning over in his bed. His blankets hide him away from the world, away from the prying eyes of everyone who will hurt him.

They comfort him.

—

Although Minho’s said yes to joining Felix’s dance crew, the blondie still follows Minho around. Felix, being a transfer student who came in the middle of the semester, had found it tough to make friends.

“Felix, why don’t you join me and my friends for lunch? If I’m not wrong, you said you eat alone right?”

“I can but...will it be okay with your friends?” 

“Yeah, they know about you. I’m sure that they’ll be interested in getting to know you.”

Felix is so much like a kid, it’s impossible for Minho not to smile around him. He’s such a warm hearted person. Chan and Changbin will love him.

“I’ve been wanting to ask if I could join you for lunch. Eating alone was getting tiresome. I was kind of worried that you thought I was annoying.”

“Ya! We’re friends now! I don’t voice my thoughts a lot, but I genuinely appreciate you.” Minho inwardly cringes at himself. Why does that sound so cringey when he says it? Maybe it’s because it usually takes a lot of effort for him to say things like that.

Felix’s eyes widen in surprise and he envelops Minho in a hug that the brunet awkwardly returns. This is…nice. It feels really nice to have people other than Chan and Changbin to talk to.

“Then, let’s go!” Felix pulls Minho by the arm in the direction of the cafeteria. Why does Minho feel like he would very soon regret telling Felix how he felt about him?

With much effort, Minho manages to bring Felix to their table.

“Channie, Changbinnie. This is Felix!”

Chan breaks out into a wide dimpled smile while Changbin chokes on his coke and sputters it out.

“Yo, what’s up?” Felix smiles, leaning his palms against the edge of the table.

“Felix, that’s Chan and that’s Changbin.” Minho points to each one of them respectively as he takes a seat next to Chan, motioning for the blonde boy to sit down next to Changbin.

“Cool, you two seem pretty chill from what Minho’s told me about you.”

Changbin is still coughing and Minho softly asks him if he’s okay. He replies with a choked out ‘does it look like I’m okay?’. Chan tells Minho not to worry.

“So, Felix...you’re a foreigner?” Chan turns his interest towards Felix and taps his fingers against the table out of habit.

“Oh, that’s right! Felix, Chan is a foreigner too!” Minho smiles softly.

“Yeah, he’s from Australia,” Changbin speaks up, glancing at Felix  
.  
“Well that’s convenient,” Minho hums, “Felix is from Australia too!”

The table seems to go silent for a couple of seconds before Chan smiles and reaches out a hand to Felix.

“Well damn, another Aussie!”

In the 10 years that Minho’s known Chan, he’d never actually heard him speaking in English. It’s...weird, but cool at the same time.

“Oh, well g’day mate, it’s nice to meet you!” 

Felix grabs Chan’s hand and jokingly greets him back in an equally heavy accent.

Minho decides to tune the Aussies out and looks over to Changbin instead.

“Is Felix _that_ cute? You didn’t have to choke on your drink,” Minho whispers.

“What… How?” 

“A decade of friendship has its perks. You should definitely ask him out, Binnie.”

“What? No way, I don’t trust him. He could be another one of _them_.”

“Nah, he’s too nice for that. Get off your high horse and ask him out.”

Changbin clicks his tongue before redirecting his attention to the Aussies.

“So Felix, what are your intentions with our Minnie?” asks Changbin.

“For God’s sake, Changbin! It’s not like Felix asked for my hand in marriage.” Minho glares at both Changbin _and_ Chan. Chan is probably in on it too. Minho isn’t a kid, he hates both of these overprotective dorks.

“I wanted Minho to join my dance team! So, the other day, I went to the dance room during lunch as I usually do and I saw Minho there. I dunno if it applies to this school too but in my old school, we had dance battles if two people wanted to use the dance room. So, I challenged Minho to a dance battle and obviously, even he was really excited to dance battle because who isn’t? And then it turns out Minho is a fabulous dancer! He did so many flips and even did a handspring so obviously, I lost to him. I’m pretty sure Minho was crying at the end of the battle. I didn’t know he liked winning that much.”

Minho cuts him off there and explains what actually happened. He lets out a sigh - Felix is excitable. Maybe that’s what their dead trio needs.

Chan and Changbin continue to interrogate Felix, and Minho internally curses the two of them. Why can’t he have normal, non-overprotective friends?

Oh right, because Minho doesn’t know how to make friends. They were the ones that had made the effort to befriend him. Minho groans and buries his head in his hands.

“So, there’s this dude named Hyunjin and he’s on the student council as well as my dance team right—”

At that, Chan and Changbin quickly exchange looks and blurt out a loud, “You passed!”

Felix looks extremely confused, God bless his soul. Minho guesses that Chan and Changbin think that whoever is friends with the Student Council can’t be terrible...

“You’re so stupid, there’s no way you’ll hurt Minnie,” Changbin says.

...Or not.

“I’ll take that as a compliment. Thanks!” Oh god, Felix is so sweet. It’s been decided. Minho will fight for Felix, even if it makes him cry.

The casual banter resumes and Minho is happy with the way things are going so far.

—

After school finishes, Minho accompanies Felix to the dance studio that Felix and the rest of his team uses.

The team consists of people that Minho’s seen around school and there are also people Minho has never seen in his life. He can see that there are foreigners there too.

“Guys, guys! This is Minho!” Felix shouts over everyone talking and most to all people in the room turn their attention to Minho.

Minho tilts his head down and shies away from the attention, his fingers automatically going to fiddle with the cuffs of his sleeves.

“Aw, come on. Nobody here is going to bite you, you don’t have to be shy. Plus, I’m here with you!”

Minho shifts his weight between his feet and looks up. Felix is still by Minho’s side, one of his arms thrown around the brunet’s shoulders. There’s a small smile on Felix’s face. Minho straightens himself up.

“Um...I-I’m Minho. Nice to meet you…”

Minho bows slightly and Felix proceeds to drag him towards the back of the room, to a guy who’s busy doing something on his phone.

“Yo, Hyunjin! Meet the new kid on the team!”

Minho adjusts his glasses so he can see the guy properly. He’s tall, taller than the two of them and really handsome as well.

“Felix, you say that as if you’re not also new to the team.”

“W-Well, a certain Lee Minho is the _newest_ person on the team.”

“Lee Minho? Wasn’t there a ‘Lee Minho’ on BTS’s backup dancer squad?” Hyunjin turns his full attention to the duo and looks Minho up and down.

“Yeah! This is him!” Felix is beaming. He has such a bright aura around him. Minho would be lying if he said that he wasn’t even the slightest bit jealous of it.

“Nice to meet you, Minho! I’m Hyunjin. I look forward to working together.”

Minho shakes Hyunjin’s hand.

“Nice to meet you too. I heard you were on the student council?”

Hyunjin sighs, “It’s almost as if there’s nothing else that Felix can mention about me… Speaking of which, I’ve only known you for like five minutes, but can you please join the Student Council as my assistant or something? You seem sane, and I need sane people in my life.”

“Uh… I’ll think about it?”

“At least it’s not a no… Ah, it looks like practice is starting,” says Hyunjin, gesturing to the people gathered in the centre of the room.

“Let’s go!”

Practice ended in the late evening. Minho’s exhausted; it’s been a long time since he’s danced so vigorously. He had missed it. The dance team is nice too and he even managed to exchange numbers with Hyunjin. Their dance instructor had been encouraging and they even had freestyle dance games. 

Felix, Hyunjin and Minho had ended up stopping by KFC for chicken. They then walked to the bus stop together. It turned out Felix lived with Hyunjin because both their parents knew each other and had worked out an arrangement of sorts. Felix had come to Korea because he wanted to be an idol but then he had discovered being an idol wasn’t for him. He had still stayed because Korea was fun. For once, Minho hadn’t felt the urge to put on his earphones when others had talked.

Dance, food and hanging out! Minho throws his bag onto his bed and quickly turns on his computer. Ever since he’d lost his laptop, he’d lost most of his works and writing so he’s been trying to rewrite or atleast draft out things so he won’t forget. Damn it! He desperately needs his laptop back from Jisung.

His phone suddenly lights up. A text message?

_**Hyunjin [18:36]**  
Yo_

_**Minho [18:36]**  
yooooo_

__**Hyunjin [18:37]**  
some time back i read that a bts backup dancer was hurt bcos of a sasaeng  
.  
.  
.  
was it you? 

Minho can feel his vision blurring and his blood pounds in his ears. The memories, voices and even the distinct foul smell fill his head.

“M-Mum!” He runs out of his room and past a maid bringing him dessert, ignoring the yells of ‘Sir!’. He opens the door to the study, where his mother’s sat reading a book. She looks up as Minho dashes over and envelops her in a tight hug.

“Minho, sweetie, it’ll be okay...” She whispers words of comfort, hugging him and gently petting his hair.

 

_**Minho [19:20]**  
Maybe_

_**Hyunjin [19:25]**  
I’m sorry… u dont have to join the dance team you know? felix can be pushy_

_**Minho [19:25]**  
Its ok i’ll be fine, i wanted to join too :)_

__**Hyunjin [19:26]**  
well  
u can always hmu if u need to 

_**Minho [19:26]**  
thanks :)_

__Chat: Minho Protection Squaaaad __

_**Minho [19:30]**  
Hyunjin asked me to join the student council_

_**Channie [19:31]**  
do you want to?_

_**Binnie [19:31]**  
you shldnt let others drag u into stuff_

_**Minho [19:32]**  
it could be a good experience?_

_**Channie [19:32]**  
mr hyunjin will still have to get my approval_

_**Binnie [19:32]**  
^ _

After that incident with a sasaeng, the duo had become protective but sometimes, Minho finds it overbearing. Hyunjin isn’t a sasaeng! If he was, Minho would already know.

_**Minho [19:33]**  
im not a kid!! 0:<_

_**Binnie [19:33]**  
youre still our friend so deal with it sucker_

_**Channie [19:34]**  
what changbin said except in a much more polite way :))_

_**Minho [19:35]**  
>:00 _

Minho switches off his phone and places it on his desk next to him, where he’s got all sorts of homework strewn across the usually neat surface. His computer casts a ghostly light over his face as he looks up to begin checking his emails. There’s so many in his inbox that he eventually just gives up and closes the program. His phone goes off again from beside him. It’s a private message from Chan.

__**Koala™ [19:56]**  
felix just texted me that we should meet up with him and hyunjin at the library at second recess  
you down?  
also if hyunjin isn't as nice as you made him sound changbin will whoop both of your asses  
:)) 

_**Minho [19:58]**  
yes fine okay :’>> _

Minho drops his phone back onto his desk and groans into the palms of his hands. Why can’t Chan and Changbin just _trust_ the people he’s made friends with?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we're so sorry this chapter took so long to come out !!! school started and we were just super busy but it's here !! we were also short of a beta reader but i managed to find one so that this could come out as soon as possible
> 
> thank you for reading and tell us in the comment what you think of the fic so far !!


	4. Chapter 4

Minho adjusts his bag straps on his shoulders, quietly side eyeing Chan as they make their way to the library on the other side of campus. There’s a dull ache at the bottom of his stomach and he briefly wonders if he had eaten something bad for breakfast.

_‘No Minho, that’s just your nerves’_ , he thinks to himself.

Felix had texted him that morning, telling him to bring Chan and Changbin so they could meet Hyunjin. Knowing them, they’d probably interrogate the poor guy until the ends of the earth. Minho sighs and stuffs his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

First Felix, now Hyunjin? They need to stop their protectiveness. It’s for Minho but...it’s kinda getting out of hand.

Felix and Hyunjin are sitting at the tables near the library entrance. They’re going over Korean phrases, most of which Felix is weak at. Changbin sits himself down across from Felix and looks over at Minho flipping through Hyunjin’s work. Chan offers to help Felix out with Korean while Minho and Hyunjin revise their work. Hyunjin is apparently acing all of his classes… As expected of a member of the student council!

Hyunjin is shy with praise and easy to blush. He also recommends some of the novels he’s read before. Hyunjin mostly likes thriller or mystery genres, which is pretty cool but they could be triggering so Minho gently declines. Minho glances over at how Chan is going with Felix and then at Changbin, who keeps glancing up at the duo from time to time. 

Minho smiles to himself as he turns back to Hyunjin. _‘So that’s what he’s been thinking about’_ , Minho makes a mental note to himself.

Their get together goes pretty decently and once the group has had enough of the library, they go to the cafeteria to get themselves some ice blocks.

“Felix, Hyunjin… Minho doesn’t tell people what they need to know about him, so I’ll tell you instead. Minho’s had some bad experiences in the past so he’s developed anxiety and social anxiety, please look after him for me and please understand my protectiveness!” Chan bows respectively to the two boys.

_Chan!_

Minho tugs on Chan’s sleeve and pouts, glancing between him and the duo standing in front of them. Changbin breaks the short silence abruptly.

“Just remember that if you hurt Minnie, I’ll be out for your asses.”

Before Minho even has the chance to whine at Changbin for being overprotective again, there’s an arm around his shoulders and Felix’s face is suddenly next to his.

“Don’t worry! We’ll take great care of him for you!!” There’s a bright smile adorning Felix’s freckled face. What a pure soul. Minho just wants to protect him.

“You’d better,” Changbin huffs and turns his head in the other direction. Minho blinks slowly and cocks his head to the side, observing Changbin’s face carefully.

Is Changbin...blushing?

Minho decides not to bring up the small detail as the bell goes off, signalling their final period.

“I’ll take Minho to his class!” Felix links his arm with Minho’s and drags him off before any of them have any time to argue with him. Minho stumbles beside Felix for a while because of how fast the blonde is walking.

—

Minho fiddles with the pass in his hands, his footsteps echoing in the hallway as he quickly makes his way to the bathroom. There’s something eerie yet comforting about the way that the halls are so quiet. He rounds a corner and blinks when he sees two figures at the end of the hall. He recognizes them immediately.

It’s the junior deputy principal and _Han Jisung_.

Minho feels sweat collecting at the nape of his neck as he speedwalks to the boys’ bathroom at the opposite end of the hall.

“Oh, Minho! It’s good to see you around!”

Minho stops halfway through pushing open the door to the bathrooms and turns around. The deputy principal, Mr Choi, is there with Jisung by his side.

“A-Ah, yes, it’s nice to see you too…” Minho bows, smiling awkwardly.

Minho takes one quick glance at Jisung and the boy smirks back at him, pulling one hand out of the pockets of his midnight jeans to flash him a small wave.

“So, Minho, have you and Jisung met before?”

“U-Uh...n-no I don’t think so…” Minho sees something flash behind Jisung’s eyes but he doesn’t mention it. Why does the principal even know Minho? Oh right, because Minho’s parents make a hefty donation every year. It allows Minho to get away with skipping school once in a while so he never really made a comment on it.

“That’s weird, you’d think that every student would know Jisung! He’s one of the junior school captains!” The deputy principal is a very jovial man who wants nothing but the best for his students.

Minho awkwardly laughs and mentions that he has to go to the toilet. The principal finally leaves with Jisung by his side. Jisung is on the student council too...and as a school captain no less! Why did Minho agree to be Hyunjin’s assistant?

—

He continues groaning about it to their lunch table the next day when he sees Hyunjin put his food down at their table.

“Do you guys mind if I join?”

Minho lazily shakes his head and buries his face in his arms.

“What’s up with him?” Hyunjin asks, seating himself next to Felix.

“Minho has a crush—”

“—I DO NOT HAVE A CRUSH SE—”

“—on Jisung and he just remembered that Jisung is also on the student council.”

“No, don’t listen to Changbin! It’s just that Jisung has my laptop but I’m too shy to ask for it back and they won’t help me!” Minho exclaims, pointing accusingly at his two childhood friends.

“Y’know, I could just ask him if he has it. I have maths with him next period,” Hyunjin raises an eyebrow and takes a sip of water.

“Oh my god, _please_ do,” Minho presses his palms together and pleads him.

Changbin snickers super loudly from across the table and Chan throws a pea at his head. Minho still doesn’t understand how he’s friends with people like them, especially when he’s so reserved unlike the rest of them.

“Speaking of Jisung, that reminds me. We have a council meeting on Friday if you’re cool to go?” Hyunjin speaks again, taking a bite out of his sandwich.

It’s already Wednesday. Minho bites his lip.

“Uh, sure, I guess…?” Minho pulls a very unsure face and this time Chan throws a pea at _his_ head.

“Minho, you hate being in a crowded room of people. Remember? It took Changbin and I a whole 2 weeks to convince you to come eat in the cafeteria with us,” Chan raises an eyebrow.

“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t expose me in front of Hyunjin and Felix, thanks.” Minho pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose and turns away from Chan.

Felix pipes up then. “What other stories do you have of Minho?? I’m intrigued now.”

Changbin cracks his knuckles and snickers again.

Minho glances at Changbin and takes a deep breath. “CHANGBIN CAN’T SLEEP WITH-“

Changbin clamps his hand over Minho’s mouth. “Alright, I’ll shut the fuck up and no one will expose anyone.”

Minho licks Changbin’s hand.

“Groossss.” Changbin scrunches his nose, wiping his palm on the back of Minho’s dress shirt.

—

Is it weird that Minho thinks that the dude sitting next to him for English is staring at him, or is that just his anxiety? Minho is pretty sure that this isn’t the first time this ‘Park Sungjin’ has been staring at him. A sasaeng? No, he’s seen Sungjin around, he’s a very rational and helpful person.

The teacher mentions something about working in pairs and Minho suddenly wants nothing but death.

“Hey, you want to work together?”

Minho looks up to see Sungjin smiling. “Um, s-sure.”

The project is to write profiles about each other. He learns that Sungjin is from Busan and is in a band! How cool! They debuted last year but aren’t very well known. Their name is Day6, but they only have five members since a previous member left. Sungjin is also apparently not too decent at dancing and he was the only dance student that the agency gave up on. He likes to dance anyway because it brings laughter and as long as he’s confident about it, it doesn’t matter too much. 

Minho brings up that he joined a dance team the other day that a student council member is on. He quit his old dance team for a break and got roped into joining another one by his friend. 

Sungjin casually mentions that they’ll be busking in the mall a week later and that he should drop by. Minho says that he will think about it.

Time flies and they’re done with the project just in time. English is Minho’s last lesson of the day so he now plans to go home and mope.

And _maybe_ look up Day6.

—

Minho looks up Day6 and listens to their title tracks and a few others. He likes the lyrics but not so much the rockish sound, he’s always been a hip-hop kind of guy. Which is why it had been an honour for him to be a BTS backup dancer.

Minho’s phone beeps. 

Ooh! A message from Hyunjin! He wants to come over! It’s been a while since someone had come over and by ‘a while’ Minho means like two days, because Felix has basically made Minho’s house his house. With Felix, comes Changbin and with Changbin, comes Chan. His house is big and it gets lonely when his parents are working so Minho doesn’t really mind.

Chan and Changbin already have their own rooms there anyway (by ‘rooms’ he means the attic that’s been divided into half). Chan uses his half of the room when he wants some peace and quiet and Changbin uses his own half as a storeroom for his plushies since apparently, he doesn’t have enough space in his bedroom. Felix has stolen a few plushies and Changbin’s never really said anything. Meanwhile, the last time Minho had done that, he’d been forced to buy lunch for Changbin the entire week. 

Hyunjin comes over and says that Felix would come over later, after finishing his homework. Minho shows Hyunjin some videos of Day6 and talks about how Sungjin had been sitting next to him in English for a while now. They watch dance videos and vine compilations and the topic suddenly swerves to when Minho had wanted to expose Changbin during lunch.

“Gyu is this Pokémon plushie that he owns, and Changbin sleeps with Gyu every night.”

Minho hears a patter of footsteps outside the door but he brushes it off, it’s probably just a maid.

Minho thinks he’s right as a neatly presented lady enters with a plate of snacks. With him and Hyunjin chattering away, it quickly gets late. Hyunjin wants to go home but Minho, the more worried of the two, tells him it’s fine to stay the night. It could be like a sleepover! The driver could drive Hyunjin to his place in the morning for his uniform or he could just borrow one of Minho’s spare uniforms if they fit.

Hyunjin quickly calls his parents to get the okay, and asks if Felix is still coming over. Felix had apparently fallen asleep. It’s early for him but even Felix gets tired once in a while.

Minho thinks that it's weird that Felix didn’t even text to inform that he wasn’t coming over, when other times he wouldn't stop blowing up Minho’s phone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy belated birthday to hyunjin :')) <33
> 
> \- vita (@jisxngie)

**Author's Note:**

> aye its your favourite maknae vita back at it again with the stray kids fics and this time its a minsung slow burn collab with my friend fath !!! (@mihigh3725)
> 
> thank you rose (@stanstraykidsstantalent on tumblr) for beta-ing our work !!
> 
> for some quality stray kids content, go follow us all on tumblr aye
> 
> me:- @jisxngie  
> fath:- @astrayminho  
> rose:- @stanstraykidsstantalent


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